My McDonald’s Nightmare

Two weeks ago, I interviewed for a position to teach a toddler class in the evenings, and what I found upon arrival was unexpected, and extremely disturbing.

At first, I was greeted by McDonald’s images plastered on the walls. After introducing herself, the owner of the school asked me to teach the kids fast food vocabulary for an entire month, and then pulled out a bag of flash cards with images of Big Macs, Quarter Pounders, Cokes, etc. After the initial shock subsided, and I was able to formulate words again, I asked her if McDonald’s sponsored the school. She proudly replied that they did not, and that she was the one responsible for gathering all the materials. She then ushered me to the book shelf and pulled out a bag filled with McDonald’s toys.

I respectfully asked her if I could bring my own flashcards with healthy foods if I were to accept the position. She said no, because this unit was only focused on fast food. I almost told her right then and there that I could not accept the position as it was against all of my morals. I’m a vegetarian yoga instructor studying to be a Health Coach for Heaven’s sake; there is not enough money in the world to make me expose images of McDonald’s to impressionable young minds. Not gonna do it. But then the Universe gave me an idea. Take the gig, and teach them about healthy foods anyway. And if she fires you she fires you. So I accepted the job, shook her hand, and went home to plan.

I’m happy to say that after the first class of completely ignoring her McDonald’s agenda, I wasn’t fired.

Comments

Good for you, and heres hoping that you don’t get the sack. It’s quite horrifying to know that there are teachers like the woman you describe out there – I really hope that you manage to turn things around and that the McDonalds flash cards end up in the bin and the kids new vocabulary has words like vegetables, fruit, lentils, nuts etc in it! Good luck!

I am just imagining your face when she pulled out the big mac cards! Almost sounds like it was a big wind up and good for you for accepting the challenge even if it meant being fired, the kids need to know what vegetables look like! Good luck with the job and hope you can continue to teach them good things…..